


Be my Saviour

by purplecake



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, F/F, The Last of Us - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-28
Updated: 2020-04-06
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:21:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,614
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23355370
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/purplecake/pseuds/purplecake
Summary: Chloe knows the city, knows the ins and the outs. But she doesn't expect to be given some mission, a trek across the country for a girl she doesn't even know. She doesn't expect it to get so real.The Last of Us AU
Relationships: Rachel Amber/Chloe Price
Comments: 5
Kudos: 13





	1. Part 1

The ringing of a telephone woke her. Chloe opened her eyes slowly, and an unsettling feeling settled in her stomach when she saw her mother's name lighting up the phone screen. It was only made worse by the fact that it was four in the morning. 

Her mother was suppose to be away in Arcadia Bay till the weekend, and Chloe couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong as she placed the phone to her ear and immediately asked, "Mom? What's wrong?" 

There was definitely something wrong. The ringing of worry in her voice hadn't been there since two years ago, when her dad had ended up in the hospital. "Chloe where's your dad?" 

Chloe was out of bed now, forgetting to even put on her slippers or a jacket as she pushed open her door and rushed across the corridor, where she could see her parents room door slightly open, light shining through and illuminating the dark corridor. "The light in the room is on-" Walking in, to find it empty, the worry continued to grow, "-But he's not in here." Her mom's breath hitched, and there was a screech and a bang on her side of the call. 

"Please, take a look downstairs for him, but don't leave the house!" There was another bang, "Be careful Chloe, I'll be there soon." 

Chloe's face scrunched up in confusion. "Mom what-" 

"I love you", Joyce interrupted, and before Chloe could answer or ask more questions, her mother hung up the line. Taking a second to consider how weird this all was, and to settle the worry in her stomach, before she walked quickly to the stairs and took two at a time on the way down. 

The building panic in her stomach calmed down a tiny bit when Chloe rounded into the kitchen, and noticed her Dad's phone sat on the counters by the fridge. Chloe noted briefly her 13th Birthday Card pinned up by a magnet and wondered when and who put that up. 

She walked up and picked up the phone, noticing the 17 missed calls from her mother and the 5 unread messages which said varying messages of "are you okay", "call me" from the last 20 minutes. So where was he?

The door to the office was open, and Chloe walked through. The sliding garden door was open too, which wasn't unusual in the summer months. But at 4 in the morning, seeing it like that made Chloe's stomach drop. 

Before she could get a good look at the office, running footsteps reached her ears, and then William appeared. Her dad looked terrified. Not just scared, but terrified, wide eyes, beads of sweat building against his hairline. And the blood. He was caked in it, all over his arms, soaked into his trousers and specked across his cheeks. He held a small revolver in his hand. 

As soon as he saw her, he slammed closed the door and rushed over, constantly looking over his shoulder. William grabbed her by the shoulder with the gun free hand and squeezed tight, dragging her eyes from the blood that was covering him. 

"Chloe, are you okay?" 

She stood in silence, staring. "Mom, she's on her way." William breathed out in relief, nodded. 

"Good, good". He turned, picked up a long military knife that had been lying on the surface of his desk, and then took Chloe's hand and wrapped her fingers around the leather bound handle. She could feel the ridges of the stitches where it had been sown together. She held it tighter as she asked. 

"Dad, what is going on-". Her sentenced turned into a scream and the knife came up to her chest to protect her as a large crash sounded from the garden door. Her and William both spun around to look towards what made the noise. 

Chloe barely recognised him, but their next door neighbour and friend Justin was at their garden door, slamming his fists and dragging his nails aggressively against the weak glass. His mouth was open, teeth bared in a growl as he screeched and thrashed, eyes bloody and crazed. It took the tears hitting her cheeks before Chloe realised she was crying. 

"Justin!" Her dad was yelling, the gun raising shakily up to point the barrel at the boy at the door, "I don't want to do this, please back away." That seemed to only make Justin more furious, as he began to kick and throw his body at the glass. Small hairline cracks appeared in the surface. Chloe yelled at William, at Justin, asking and pleading, but neither of them responded or paid attention to her. 

With a final punch, the glass broke. Justin fell inwards, onto the floor of the office among the shards of broken door in a fit of movement, and for a split second seemed stunned. Chloe startled, but didn't move. In what seemed like the span of a second, Justin was jumping up, roaring and dashing forward with his teeth bared and jaws gnashing at her father. 

She didn't think. After the fact, when she tried to remember doing it, she couldn't. There was a flash of dark in her brain, and then she was sat on the floor, amongst the blood and the glass, with tears on her cheeks, eyes blurred and a bloodied knife in her shaking fist. Justin's dead body was lying less than ten centimetres from her, with an open wound in the back of his head the perfect fit of the blade of her knife. Dad never had the heart to tell her exactly what she did, nor the time. 

He just picked himself up, tucked the gun into the belt of his blood stained jeans and knelt down next to her, glancing around for a second with wide eyes. The sound of a car, lights shining from the road and the ringing of Chloe's phone gave him enough of a Chloe that Joyce just got here. 

"Chloe, honey". His daughter flinched at the sudden touch of her shoulder, but otherwise didn't move. Her eyes stared blankly ahead. "It's okay, that wasn't Justin anymore." He pulled on her arm, and she got up limply, looked up at him. The pain in her eyes broke his heart. "People are getting sick, and we needed to go, to stay safe." 

When they got outside, Joyce's eyes filled with tears at the sight of them both covered in blood and wide eyed. She started to ask questions, but William quickly quieted her down with a soft look and a "We're fine", then directed Joyce to the back seat with Chloe before getting behind the wheel. "We need to get out of here, as fast as possible". 

They made it as far as the city centre, taking a route past all the traffic and into the main zones. A car coming in the opposite direction cut their journey short, flipping them round and onto the car onto it's roof. Chloe barely knew what was happening before the world went dark again and her mother screamed. 

"Chloe!" The muffled voice yelled for her, followed by a continuous bang by her head. "Chloe!" It yelled again, and this time she peeled open her eyes slowly and became conscious of the thudding pain in her head. Through her fuzzy vision, she saw the window on her side of the car cracked, and her dad's bleeding face through it. "Hide your face!" He yelled, and Chloe barely had a second before his face was replaced by his foot, and the window was shattering around her. 

Hands grabbed her, and she was lying stomach first on the tarmac, being pulled up onto her feet and hugged by both her parents. "Can you walk?" Joyce grabbed and turned her, checking for injury. "Are you hurt?" 

Chloe blinked. "No, no it's okay". They had a second to breath a sigh of relief before William had his gun out, and Chloe finally noticed her surroundings. Fires were burning on street corners, cars were turned over, just like theirs. People were running and screaming. Chloe recognised people who looked like Justin, the same frenzy in their movements, the same violence in their eyes. They were fighting, and a few feet away from them Chloe saw one man launch himself at a small woman, tackle her to the ground and sink his teeth into her neck. 

She almost threw up, felt for her knife. When she didn't feel it and began to panic, her dad's hand appeared in front of her face, holding the weapon she was looking for, offering it to her handle first. 

"Come on kid, we gotta go." Then he grabbed her and her mother, pistol out and ready to shoot, running ahead down the chaotic street, keeping as far away as he could from the fighting and the blood. 

After 10 minutes of running through streets, then back alleys, they made it to a long, locked fence. William cursed looking over his shoulder, dragging their attention to what was behind them. Three people, staggering on wobbly legs and gnashing their teeth together, yearning to reach them with their bloodied hands. He struggled with himself for a second, then seemed to come to a peace. He kissed Joyce quickly, hugged Chloe tight, then said, "This is where we say goodbye." 

Chloe's eyes filled with tears again, and rage took over her features. But before she could argue, her dad grabbed both Joyce and her by the arms. "There's no time to argue, please. I'll meet you on the outskirts, for now run." Then he raised Chloe first, so she could climb up and over the fence. Her mother followed quickly, and as they ran and cried, the sound of William's pistol echoed behind them. 

It took them another 15 minutes of running through the sand and dirt of the outskirts before they stopped, and turned to see behind them. The city was alight with fire, and they could still hear the screams. 

"Freeze!" A voice commanded. Chloe's blood turned cold, fear rising again and making her feel sick. 

"Chloe", her mom's shaking voice reached her, but she was too scared to turn her head to look at her. 

"Turn around slowly, hands above your head!" When they turned fully towards the voice, they noticed it was a heavily armed man, wearing a helmet and bulletproof vest. There was an American Flag patch on his arm. Hope rose in Chloe's chest this time, and she felt so relieved she almost laughed. Until she heard the click of the security drop. 

Her mother's voice sounded from her right. "Sir, please. We're just citizens, trying to explain and get somewhere safe. Help us please." 

The soldier's gun dipped slightly. He said nothing to them, but reached for his comm, speaking into that. His voice sounded softer, worried. "Sir, I have two civilians here, asking for help." There was a rough static response Chloe didn't catch, but didn't need to. She paled at the solider's response. "But sir, they're just-". He sighed, the gun shaking slightly. "Yes sir". He clicked off the comm, and straightened the barrel at them. 

"I'm sorry," they heard him say, and to his credit, Chloe actually believed he meant it. Then he pressed the trigger. 

Joyce's body collided with hers and shoved her into the sand as a rain of bullets dipped into the air and sand around them. They stopped a second later, and a light came over them as the soldier wondered over to check if they were still breathing. Joyce raised her head, tears clear on her face. 

"Please, " she sobbed, holding Chloe. "Please". The soldier aimed again. 

There was a shuffle behind him, and as he pressed the trigger, he turned in shock. His own head burst with blood, and he fell down into the sand, staining it red. William stood behind him with the pistol still aimed. 

Chloe sobbed happily, and let Joyce pull her up and ran to her father, wrapping her arms round him. William responded weakly, making a stifled noise instead, but it was when Chloe felt something warm and wet soaking into her shoulder, and heard her mother's scream did she feel the relief be replaced by fear once again. 

She pulled away, to see her shoulder stained red as William bled from a bullet wound in his upper chest. His face fell, and Chloe leaned him against her as his knees buckled, laying him back on the sand gently. She froze, staring at him as the gun dropped from his hand and her mother rushed forward to put pressure on the wound. 

"William! William no, don't do this to me!" She was crying, begging. All Chloe could do was kneel by his side, watch the light from his eyes fade as he lost focus of the world around him.

"I'm sorry," he said weakly, and his fingers found Chloe's right before he went limp, the stiffness of his shoulders dropping, his last breath leaving him. Joyce's sobbing was the only sound left. 

"Chloe!" Joyce shook her, her face broken, "Chloe!"

20 Years Later

Chloe startled up from her chair, breath heavy in her lungs. She felt the cold sweat sticking her shirt to her back, felt the fear leave her body as the uneasiness stayed. She blinked once, twice. Looked around her run down room for a second, coming to grips with reality. Her cracked mirror made her squint at her faded light blue hair. "I'll have to dye it again soon", though she didn't hate the colour completely. 

She grabbed her half drank beer from the table where she'd fallen asleep and downed it quickly. 

A banging on the door broke the silence and she almost jumped. "Price!" a voice yelled, and Chloe rolled her eyes, knowing immediately who it was. Still, as she stumbled to the door, she smiled lightly and threw it open. 

Frank Bowers stood on the other side, looking annoyed when she finally let him inside. "Finally," he sat down at the table and let himself open another beer, chugging it for a second then looking back at her. "Thought you'd died in here, I'd been out there for 5 minutes already". 

Chloe rolled her eyes again. She did that a lot around Frank. "Don't exaggerate, Frank." She sat with him, took the beer from in front of him and chugged the rest of it down before chucking it across the room into a make shift bin, smiling when it smashed. "What do you want." 

Despite the act, she wasn't unhappy to see him. After the dream she'd had, it was a nice distraction. 

"Prescott is being a bitch about our guns." Okay, so not nice anymore. Chloe frowned at information, getting up to her bed and leaning down under the mattress to pick up her gun and knife. The same leather wrapped one her dad had given to her 20 years ago. "He owes us big time, we can't just let this go."

She checked the magazine and sharpness of her knife, then tucked both into the holds on her belt before grabbing her leather jacket. "We won't," Chloe gestured to Frank, and he got up with a smirk. "Where was he last?" 

They stopped at the door, giving Chloe a second to grab her pack and fill it with a couple rounds of ammo. "Where he always is, up in that shitty office of his where he thinks he's important." 

Zipping up her bag, Chloe smiled. "Let's go then, Bowers." 

For a second, he looked concerned. "It won't be an easy fight." 

Chloe shrugged. "Is it ever?" 

With that, they headed out side by side. 

Frank was right, it wasn't an easy fight at all. Nathan Prescott must have heard they were coming, because he doubled up his guards and armed them with the new weapons. It was flattering, Chloe thought, as she ducked out of the fire and let Frank cover her while she reloaded her hand gun. Nathan must really be afraid of them. 

When her mag was fun, she leaned over the create and shot two shots, hitting two of the last guards down into the ground, leaving them bleeding and yelling. "Oh shut up will you", Frank yelled as he vaulted over and looked up at the tall building ahead of them. 

"Which floor?" Chloe asked as she joined his side, sliding her gun back into her holster and looking up at the building. 

"Ground I think." Frank answered, and Chloe resisted the urge to laugh. She gave Frank a look, and he did laugh out loud, shrugging. "Guy doesn't like stairs, lazy bastard". 

They walked up and into where Nathan's office was, just in time to see him trying to climb up and over the glassless window behind his desk. Chloe quickly reacted, pulling free her gun and shooting a single bullet into his thigh. Nathan stumbled, and fell forward, onto the pavement outside the window, rolling over onto his back and cursing. 

"God fucking damn it, okay! Just stop would you!" Chloe and Frank appeared above him, Frank with his hands folded across his chest as he grinned and Chloe glaring with her gun squarely aimed between his eyes. "What do you want!" 

"Our guns, Nathan." 

Prescott paled, and Chloe was sure it wasn't because of the pain. She inched down, pressing the gun harder into his face. "Where are they?" Frank asked from behind her. 

"Guys, come on!" He stuttered. "I promised I would get you them, and I will." Chloe could tell it was a lie immediatly, and retracted the gun only to stomp down on the bullet wound on his leg. Nathan screamed. 

"Fuck!" 

"Start talking Prescott," Chloe growled as she returned the gun to his head. Nathan whimpered, but said nothing. Chloe rolled her eyes, and moved back to stop down on his leg again.

"Okay, okay!" He turned angry, but a single look from Chloe and Frank had him terrified again. "Shit, I sold them to the fireflies." He realised quickly he should have just told them he destroyed them. They would have reacted better to that news. Instead, Frank acted out and smashed a foot into his knee, breaking it on impact. Nathan screamed again. 

"You sold our guns to the fucking fireflies?" 

The next voice that spoke up didn't belong to Nathan. It came from behind them, and as soon as she heard it Chloe rolled her eyes harder. It was a bad habit that at 30 she should probably drop. 

"Sorry about that."

Chloe turned, while Frank pulled out his own gun and shot Nathan in the head. Victoria Chase showed pain in her expression for a split second, before it was replaced with annoyance. "Was that necessary?" 

Frank shrugged. "Bitch betrayed us." 

Chloe barely payed Nathan and Frank any attention. "What the hell do you want Victoria?" The firefly military tag stood out against her neck. At the question, Victoria moved her hand from where she had been holding her stomach to reveal the bleeding she'd been trying to stop. 

"I need your help".

It took a lot of convincing, and the promise of the guns for Chloe to follow Victoria. Frank wasn't so sure, but Chloe managed to convince him that the guns would be worth it, not that it needed a lot of it. 

What Chloe didn't expect was to immediately be tackled by a blonde haired woman, knocking her out the door and back into the corridor on her back with a dagger to her throat. Very slowly, Chloe raised her hands up in surrender and watched the woman's face go from fear, surprise to anger, then confusion. Victoria stepped up soon after. 

"Rachel, it's okay, she's here to help." Chloe raised her eyebrows at the girl on top of her and smiled. 

"Would really appreciate if you let me go." The woman, Rachel, got up quickly and pocketed her knife, but continued to watch Chloe with a curious glance. "Not that I was complaining." She saw Victoria roll her eyes from her side, but that didn't stop her from winking. Rachel didn't react much, apart from turning away immediantly to focus on Victoria and noticing the blood. 

"My god Chase, are you alright?" She went to come closer, but Victoria shook her head, and gestured to the door. 

"I'm alright, but we need to get inside before anyone sees us." She looked at Chloe, glared. Chloe just smiled back, nodded at them both and tucked her gun into her belt. 

"After you ladies." 

Inside, Rachel almost immediately dragged Victoria to sit, rushed to a cabinet and pulled a first aid kit out. As soon as she got back to Victoria however, the firefly took it from her hands and placed it behind her on the table. Rachel tried to argue, but Victoria cut her off. 

"We don't have time for this, I'll be fine." She pulled herself up and almost fell, holding herself up as she grimaced. "Rachel," she got the woman's attention and nodded at Chloe. "This is Chloe Price. Price," she gestured to Rachel. "This is Rachel Amber." Her eyes went back to Rachel. "Chloe will take you to my team in the town hall." 

Rachel and Chloe both reacted immediately, in very similar, angry ways. Rachel yelled "no way," at the same time Chloe yelled, "the fuck I will!". 

Victoria rubbed her temples, then looked up. "Chloe, you trusted me once," her eyes begged, "I need you to trust me again." When Chloe still looked angry, she raised her comm to her mouth and spoke into it. "Frank? The guns?" Then held it out to Chloe to hear. 

"Chloe, they're all here, all of it." 

Victoria clicked off the comms. "I wasn't lying about the guns. Take Rachel to the town hall, and you and Frank will have those guns. Like nothing happened." 

Chloe walked up to her and took the walkie out of Victoria's hands. The firefly didn't protest. "Frank?" Chloe asked into the comm, waited for Frank to confirm. When she heard him, she said, "meet me by the canals, we have shit to do before we get the guns." She could hear he wanted to argue, but they could deal with it later. 

"See you there," and then he was gone. 

Rachel didn't like that outcome, fuming she turned to Victoria. "What the hell, I am a grown woman! I don't get a choice?" Victoria walked closer, ripped off the firefly necklace and handed it to Rachel. After a short second, Rachel took it. 

"You're too important. But I promise, Chloe is capable of getting you there." Rachel was silent. "Trust me." 

She nodded. Chloe sighed, part of her hoping she would argue more. "Okay then, Rachel". The woman turned, her face distrustful but accepting. "Let's go." 

"So, Rachel." They were walking a few feet apart through the ruined streets of L.A, past the overgrown buildings and rusted signs. Rachel turned to the other woman, face fitting into a glare. "What makes you so special?" 

She didn't answer for a few steps, and Chloe almost thought she wouldn't at all. When the response came, it was cutting and angry. "Let's just get to the fireflies." 

"Fair enough, can't wait to get rid of you either." Chloe sped up, already seeing the canals up ahead. Rachel almost felt bad. 

"Frank!" Chloe called as she rounded the corner, and notice her partner up head watching the area around him. He began walking towards her when he saw her, but lights up ahead caught Chloe's attention instead and she gestured towards him, then grabbed Rachel and pushed her back behind one of the walls, hiding the two of them from sight as the military patrol rolled by them. She just hoped Frank understood her enough to do the same. 

"You alright?" she turned her face to Rachel, checking on her against her better judgement, only to realise how close they actually were in the tight space Chloe chose to hide. Rachel nodded but didn't say a word, and if it hadn't bee so dark in the shadows they were hiding it, Chloe would have seen the flush of the other woman's cheeks. 

"Get off me you bastards!" 

Oh fuck, Frank. Chloe felt her body grow cold immediately, and she grabbed Rachel by the arm and pulled her with her as she ran out into the clearing. There was Frank, his arms in a tight grip of two guards, the third holding a gun to his head and another device in his hand. They were checking him. 

Before she could rush over there, she felt rough arms grab her too, and Rachel started yelling and swearing as they pulled the two of them over to Frank, forcing them onto their knees next to him. 

"Check us then you dick, we aren't infected!" He was yelling. 

"Shut up Frank," Chloe said to him quietly, and he calmed down a slight bit. He didn't stop cursing them. The guards pulled something away from Rachel, and Chloe closed her eyes and sighed deeply when she saw what they were holding. 

"Fuck". 

"Based on this," the guard held up the firefly pendant Victoria had given Rachel, "We already have grounds to shoot you right here". Rachel was kicking and screaming against the guard holding her, but when Chloe turned and gave her a solid look, she stopped. Like Frank though, she didn't stop cursing. 

The machine was stuck against Franks forehead. Beeping the sound Chloe loved to hear. He was clear. The same beeped for her, and she expected nothing else when she got to Rachel. But before the sound of the test result came, Rachel knocked her head back, shocking the soldier holding her into letting go with a yelp, then jumped up and knocked the machine out the others hands. Chloe took this oppertunity to reach her knife, and stabbed the guard behind her quickly and swiftly in the neck while Frank disposed of the last two with two quick shots of his pistol. 

"Nice one", Chloe hissed sarcastically as Rachel picked up the firefly pendant from the dead soldiers hand. 

"Oh I'm sorry, I should have just let them shoot us!" The girl hissed back. The click of Frank's gun got both of their attention, and Chloe turned to find him with the barel of the gun pointed right at Rachel's head, the testing machine in his other hand. His eyes were wide. 

"Frank?" Chloe raised both hands, and began to approach him slowly. 

"I don't know what sort of shit Victoria wants from us, Chloe. But she needs to go." The safety he'd placed back on clicked off again as he prepared to shoot. Rachel had her hands up in the air, tears in her eyes. Chloe couldn't tell if she was angry or scared. 

"What are you talking about Frank?" Chloe kept coming closer. He didn't answer her, just turned the machine round so she could see the screen. 

Infected, it said, in red lettering. 

Chloe didn't ask any more questions. She got her own gun out, and levelled it at Rachel. The other woman was shaking, hands still up in surrender. 

"I can explain." Her voice shook too. 

Chloe clicked her own safety off. "You better talk fucking fast."


	2. Part 2

Rachel had never had a gun to her head before. The sight of not one but two barrels pointing right between her eyes made her sweat and shiver at the same time, fear the only thing she could feel. Her hands shook as she raised them up, palms first, as a motion of surrender. 

"Please, I can explain." She said again, and could hear how faint her voice had become with the fear. 

Chloe looked torn. Her hands were steady however, and her finger on the trigger didn't move an inch. "Talk then!" She yelled, and Frank behind her slowly moved up to stand at her side, his own gun shaking slightly but still pointed directly at her. "Explain to me why Victoria is having us smuggle an infected!"

She wasn't supposed to tell them, Victoria had said it was top secret. No one could know. But the gun to her head definitely passed that worry, and Rachel quickly made up her mind. 

"I'm not infected." She said loudly, fighting the shake in her voice. Chloe's gun dipped, but her face was still angry. Frank didn't budge. 

"You really expect us to believe that?" 

Rachel slowly moved one hand to her sleeve, and pulled it up to her elbow. There, on her pale skin was the dented outline of a long bite mark. Chloe tensed up again, gun aligned. "This is 3 weeks old." 

Frank scoffed, "Everyone turns within 2 days, bitch. Stop the bullshit!" Rachel looked to Chloe, but the other woman just stood there for a long second and watched, waited for Rachel to say anything else. 

"It's 3 weeks, I swear." She was staring to get more and more nervous as the guns stayed up. 

Fortunately there wasn't much more time to discuss anything. Car lights shone from behind them, and all their attention was turned. "Shit, its a patrol". Chloe said, and then slid the gun into her holster and ran at Rachel, grabbing her by the arm and taking off dragging her behind as Frank chased up the rear. 

It wasn't easy getting away from the patrol. As soon as they discovered bodies of the guards they'd taken down, they called in reinforcements. They were just lucky that Chloe and Frank knew the place inside out. 

Chloe had Rachel by the arm most of the journey through the dark shadows of the channal tunnels, and something about her tight grip made her feel safer. After the gun incident, she didn't expect it. 

The military patrol didn't let up until the town hall was in their sights. Chloe racked her brain to think of what to do, watching all the guards circling the ground in front of the doors, the military truck prepping the minigun on its roof. 

"Chloe, subway," she heard Frank whisper from behind her, and she squinted through the night air to where he was pointing. The subway, he was right. Taking the underground was their best route past the guards. She nudged Rachel, and motioned for her to follow as she began to move through the dark to the subway entrance. 

Just as they ran down the stairs and round the corner, Chloe felt the wizzing of a bullet pass by her head and hit the wall behind her. 

"Run, quick!" She yelled, and as Rachel and Frank took off down the subway line, jumping up and over the roof, she turned to see the minigun had been directed at them, and the patrol began to chase them down the subway. 

She saw Rachel stop up ahead, grab Frank and point back to where Chloe was, but Chloe immediatly waved her arms and shook her head. "Keep going," her motions said, and Frank nodded before pulling Rachel further down the line. 

The other woman kept turning her head to look back before they disappeared out of sight. Chloe prayed that they would be alright. 

It was lucky that the subway was dark. Chloe crawled into the abandoned subway cart and settled behind one of the rusted metal walls, waiting. She heard a scruffle up ahead, and as the patrol came down she counted 4 guards, armed with machine guns. 

She had to do this quietly.

They split up to search, and Chloe knew now was the perfect moment to act fast. The first went down quickly, Chloe had plenty of arm strength to strangle him before he could make a sound. The second and third took her knife to the neck and choked on their own blood. 

With the last, she wasn't quite as lucky. He turned at the last minute as Chloe aimed her knife into his back and smashed her in the face with the end of his gun. 

Everything went black, and when Chloe gained consciousness, she was on the floor with the soldier on top of her, his hands tightening around her neck. She must have knocked his gun out of his hands, as it lay too far to reach next to her knife. 

Shit, Chloe thought, as the edges of her vision darkened and she struggled to breathe, the pain in her neck worse and worse by the second as the guard kept pushing. 

And just like that, the pain and the pressure was gone, and the guard was falling off of her, his eyes wide open but blank and empty. He fell limp to the side as Chloe gasped, and behind the guard stood Rachel with Chloe's knife in hand, covered in blood. 

Frank was at her side a second later, helping Chloe up from the floor and checking her neck. "It's bruising," he said, and tapped her on the back. A motion that said "I'm glad you're alive." 

Chloe looked at Rachel, who still stood in the same spot, holding the knife in a tight grip. Chloe knew that look. She'd never killed anyone before, not living at least. Gently, Chloe placed a hand on her shoulder, and smiled when Rachel met her eyes. "Thank you," she said. Rachel placed the knife in Chloe's waiting hand and nodded, her shoulders relaxing slowly. 

"I told you to keep going, I would have been fine." Chloe directed at Frank. All he did was shake his head. 

"Sure you would have been," she heard him mumble, which made her laugh softly. 

"We took the infected out up ahead, though it wasn't easy," Rachel finally spoke up. "It's clear up to the exit."

Soon enough they were stood outside again, circling back to the town hall where the area stood empty. They ran up to the doors and went in, weapons at the ready just in case. 

The fireflies were dead. Four bodies, each lying in their own puddle of blood, heads blown out. To Chloe's surpise, it was Frank who reacted the most. He swore continuously as he ran up and began checking on the bodies, looking for any sign of life. When he confirmed they were dead, he began searching their pockets. 

Chloe and Rachel shared a look, and she slowly walked up to him. "Frank, what the hell are you doing?" Her voice was rough from getting chocked, but her confusion came across clearly. 

Frank took a second to answer, movements erratic. "Maybe they have a map or something, to show where they were going." He looked up at Rachel momentarily, his eyes unfocused. "Did Victoria ever say where?" 

Rachel, shocked at the state of him, only shook her head in shock. 

Frank yelled, got up and kicked the body, once, then twice. 

"Frank, we tried. Let's get the hell out of here." Frank shook his head, wiped at his face. The anger and erraticity cleared, and now he just looked tired. 

"Chloe, we have to, we have to take her where ever they want her." 

Chloe scoffed. "Well you certainly changed your tune, we don't know why they want her! What is wrong with you!" She shoved him, and he stumbled back but did nothing. 

"What if she's the answer to all of this?" Chloe sighed. 

"We can't risk our lives on that, Frank. Let's go home." She began to turn, to go out the door. 

"This is as far as I go, Chloe." Her face fell as she finally understood. She turned back around as her heart sunk, but she didn't let her fear show, replacing it instead with anger.

"Show it to me." She growled at him, and he faltered. 

As he pulled the collar of his leather jacket back to show his neck, Rachel finally understood, swearing under her breath as she saw the read irritated bite on his skin, wet with blood. 

There was a long moment of silence, where Chloe just stared at Frank, and he stared at her. "I suppose we had to run out of luck sometime," he almost laughed, but the anger on Chloe's face stiffled it quickly. 

"Chloe, this is real." He pointed at Rachel, walked up to her and took her arm, the bite pale and scared there. "That was 3 weeks ago, this", he pointed to his neck, "was less than an hour, and already its worse". 

The slam of a car door attracted their attention. "We know you're in there," came a shout and Chloe knew it was the military. She began to pull out her gun, but Frank grabbed her arm before she could. 

"Get out of here, get her out of here and somewhere safe." The look in his eyes made it clear, that she knew where he meant. And that this wasn't up for discussion. She shrugged off his arm. 

"Like hell I'm leaving you here." The shout from outside came again. Frank's eyes softened a slight bit, before he grabbed her and shoved her in the direction of the doors at the far side of the room. 

"Find a way out, and get her to the fireflies." 

Chloe watched Frank for a second, then reluctantly began to back away, grabbing Rachel. The other woman didn't say a word. 

"I'm sorry Chloe," was the last thing Frank said before Chloe got to the doors leading further into the town hall, and closed it behind them. 

She leaned her head against the door for a second, closing her eyes and pushing down all the pain she could feel coming up. There was a hand on her shoulder, Rachel's, but after a few seconds Chloe brushed her off and began to move up the stairs that led up. "Let's move."

She didn't even make it to the first step before the sounds of gun shots reached them. Chloe paused, pushed down her tears and kept moving. She didn't see the concerned look Rachel gave her. 

Frank was sprawled out among his own blood, right besides the dead fireflies. If Chloe hadn't perfected the best way to hide her emotions, she would have burst into tears and thrown up when she spotted him from the upstairs balcony that overlooked the front door. 

She stared at him for a long time, or as long as she could allow herself as the guards began to make their way around, searching for them. Chloe felt Rachel grab her arm, and turned to look at her. Her eyes were concerned, but she didn't say anything. 

Chloe pulled her pistol out from the holster at her belt and handed it over, waiting for Rachel to take it. The other girl seemed surprised, but the shaking at the doors they'd come through broke the moment, and she took it, nodding. 

They started moving again, up and through the building as fast but as quietly as they could. Chloe didn't know her way around, but she did know that the front door was out. They had to keep moving and hope for a way out. "Get her somewhere safe," Frank had said. Chloe knew fireflies, knew people that could help her find this lab. She knew where to go. 

She'd definitely need a car though. 

"We have to get Oregon." She whispered, as she and Rachel ducked behind an overturned table to check their surroundings before moving on through the halls, looking for anything like an open window. 

"Oregon!" Rachel burst out, shocking them both. She turned the shout into a whisper quickly, but her eyes remained wide. 

"When Frank said to get you somewhere safe, he meant there," Chloe explained quickly, eyeing the corridor ahead carefully. She thought she heard voices. "We knew people who joined the fireflies, they'll be there. They can help." 

Rachel breathed out, contemplated. Scanned the corridor, turned back to Chloe. "And how do you suppose we get to fucking Oregon?" 

Chloe didn't want to do it. She didn't want to consider the option of it. But Frank was willing to get where ever for this, for even the possibility. She had to at least try. "I have a friend in Fresno, owns me a favour or two. We can try to get a car there." 

Rachel looked at her for a second, as if she was about to say something. Her hand began to reach out, her eyes soft. 

A shout ahead got their attention, and Chloe grabbed Rachel and got them both behind cover just as a bullet wizzed past her head and chipped away at the pillar they'd been standing in front of only seconds before. 

Their faces were close for only a few seconds, and Chloe had to kick herself for the part of her that was completely lost in how beautiful Rachel was. She turned quickly, pulling her rifle from across her shoulders and shouting at the guard across the corridor. 

He fell in a bloody mess, but there was no time for relief. Rachel yelled, "Behind," and Chloe turned to see four more guards rushing towards them, diving into cover as Chloe shot at them, managing to only hit one in the shoulder. 

The two of them ran, diving down just in time as a molotov crashed at their feet and the ground was covered in flames. 

Another shot, and another one went down. Rachel fired, and the guard fell to one knee, gun dropping to stop the bleeding in his leg. Chloe took the oppertunity, grabbed him and pressed her knife to his throat as he struggled against her. 

While they hesitated she grabbed the her other pistol and shot them both, one after the other, before slashing her captives throat. 

"Holy shit," she heard Rachel say, but Chloe barely paid attention. 

"That was the last of them, at least I hope", she breathed out in relief. Part of her wanted to go back to the front door, to where Frank was. To see him one last time. But she knew they couldn't. Instead she caught sight of the smashed wall, leading out. 

"Come on," and she went. Until she felt Rachel grab her shoulder, stop her. 

Her eyes asked what she wanted, and Rachel's eyes got soft again. "Thank you, Chloe." That was not what Chloe had expected, but she nodded her head anyway and hoped her surprise didn't show. "You don't have to take me any further." 

Chloe could go back, home. Continue to do what she has been for the last 20 years. But she couldn't, not without Frank. They had been a team, and she couldn't do this. "Frank believed you could be the answer to all this. I owe it to him to try." 

They walked for a long time, in the direction that Chloe's map said Fresno was. She'd walked it plenty of times, but the roads were destroyed and hard to navigate. They stopped for nights, stayed out of sight as much as they could and where ever they could. In the end it took 3 days to get to Fresno, and another few hours to get to the nearest city where Chloe knew she would be. 

There were gates set up from the remaining quarantine zones that had been set up, and traps. So many fucking traps. Chloe was a step from getting blown up if not for Rachel noticing the wire and grabbing right as it snapped, pushing them away from the blast. Chloe ignored the red in Rachel's cheeks and her fast heart beat with Rachel so close to her, instead getting up quickly and helping the other woman up. 

They blast would have brought in runners. 

She had been right, but it also brought someone familiar. Just as Chloe and Rachel were getting surrounded, a bang went off in the opposite direction, and the runners turned their attention to the noise, disappearing. 

"Chloe Price!" 

Despite what Chloe had told herself, to keep calm and not lose it, rage boiled inside her immediately at the sound of her voice.

A young woman jumped from the roof and onto the street below, just a few feet in front of them. Rachel reacted quickly and pulled free her pistol, but Chloe gently placed her palm on top of the gun and lowered it to point at the ground. Before she knew what she was doing, she walked quickly towards the woman and punched her hard in the face, sending her to the floor. As she shook her hand out, ignoring the pain in her knuckles, she spoke to Rachel but kept her eyes on the other girl. "This is the friend I talked to you about, Rach," She explained slowly. The nickname came naturally, Chloe having started it and gotten used to it the past few days. 

"Hey Max." 

Max Caufield rubbed her cheek, red already from where Chloe's punch had hit. "Hey Chloe." She groaned out. Rachel watched the interaction, Chloe's obvious annoyance, Max's acceptance. It was strange, but she put the gun away and just watched. "Guess I deserved that," Max was saying as Chloe gave her a hand back up to her feet. 

Max bought Chloe into a cautious hug as soon as she was up, but didn't let it last too long. Chloe was still tense. "It's nice to see you too, Chlo. Never thought I would again."

Chloe scoffed, nodded. "Not like you had anything to do with that." Max didn't respond, turning towards Rachel with a smile instead and walking up to offer a hand shake.

"My name's Max. Despite that, Chloe and I are actually friends." She smiled as Rachel took her hand and shook it.

"Rachel". 

Max turned back to Chloe. "You both okay? No bites?"

Chloe and Rachel shared a quick look to ensure Max didn't notice. "No bites." 

"Come on, let's get out of here."

Chloe rolled her eyes, but gestured to Rachel to follow. 

Max led them through the back alleys of the streets, keeping away as much as they could from the runners and clickers, warning them of any of her traps so they didn't set them off again. Chloe said they were friends, but quite obviously something had happened between them. Something both of them were just waiting to bring up. Rachel observed Max. She was a short girl, perhaps a few years younger than her and Chloe, late 20s. She wore a rattled flannel shirt and a long coat over it. Her boots were study, and there was a bow and quiver of arrows over her shoulder. Still, she also had a pistol at her belt and a knife tucked into her boot. 

"How did you find us?" Chloe was asking as Rachel listened in again. 

Max laughed, short but genuine as she walked ahead, watching the roads as they walked. Chloe was holding up the back, with Rachel just a few steps ahead of her. "It wasn't hard, the explosion was impossible to miss."

"Well, thanks," Chloe sounded like she'd rather eat glass than thank Max, and Max seemed to think so too, because she almost faltered. 

"No problem," her voice was softer, shocked. She cleared her throat, ignoring the change in tone momentarily. "So what exactly brings you out here? And where the hell is Frank, thought you two never left each other's sides." 

Rachel turned to look at Chloe, but her face was blank. "We need a car, I'm going up to Arcadia Bay." This made Max stop completely, forget all about Chloe avoiding the question about Frank. 

"Chloe, the hell? You know Arcadia Bay is over run, there's nothing up there." Max had rounded on Chloe, face worried and confused. "What could you possible need up there." Her eyes snapped to Rachel momentarily, and Rachel felt guilt build in her chest. Max knew it had something to do with her, and she could feel the blame. Of putting Chloe in danger, when she could have just left her. Frank was already dead because of her. 

"Joyce is up there." The name obviously meant something to Max as her face fell. Rachel made a note to ask Chloe about it later. 

"Joyce, why would Joyce be up there?" Chloe waited, as Max's eyes widened and she realised. "The fireflies, you think that's where she went? Back to Arcadia Bay?" 

Chloe nodded. "It's where she said she wanted to go last time I saw her. I need the fireflies, part of a job I'm doing." Max smiled, but this one was tainted with a bitterness. She pointed at Rachel. 

"This job have anything to do with her, and you risking your life again?" 

Chloe scoffed again, moving back and away from Max, moving past her to walk further. "I don't have time for this. What I'm doing with her is my business, I need a car and you owe me." Her voice held an edge to it, of anger and betrayal, more than Rachel had ever heard. 

Max's face fell, defeated. "That won't be easy Chloe. After this, I don't owe you shit." She continued in the direction they were originally going, but didn't say anything else. Chloe didn't move for a second. 

"You alright?" Rachel moved closer, hand on her shoulder. Chloe didn't push her away this time. She looked up, smiled gently as the anger in her eyes disappeared when she looked at Rachel. She nodded. 

"Let's get that car and get the fuck out of here." 

Max had herself settled into a basement in an abandoned warehouse, enough weapons and food to last her a long time. She fixed up traps in her spare time and planted them across most of the city, more as you got closer to her safe house. Chloe had wanted to ask about Kate, who Max had been looking for the last time they had seen each other 5 years ago, but when they got down the stairs to the basement and Max was tackled into a hug by Kate herself, she didn't have to. Kate searched Max over, looking for injury, bites, anything. It made Chloe's heart ache, how much they seemed to care about each other. Her and Frank had never been together, had never showed they cared that much. But they knew, Chloe cared for Frank like family. She pushed the memories away as she felt the feeling of coming tears. 

"What happened to your face?" Kate asked, and Chloe swore under her breath. 

"It's nothing, Kate, don't worry." That's when she noticed Chloe, and she made the connection herself. She went to rush towards her, but Max grabbed Kate before she could. "Don't, we suspected she wouldn't react well to seeing me." Kate calmed down, looked at Chloe. 

"Glad to see you're alive, where's your dumbass partner." Max gave her a warning look, and Kate raised her hands as if in surrender and then crossed them, waiting. 

"Nice to see you too, Kate." She didn't answer the question about Frank, and this time Max noticed. 

"What did happen to Frank? Why isn't he with you." Chloe hesitated. Her eyes burned, but she didn't let any tears fall. Rachel felt like stepping up, doing something, but Chloe spoke before she could. 

"He's dead. Now drop it." She didn't have the courage to look up at Max, but heard her curse under her breath. 

"Chloe-" 

"I said drop it." It wasn't a yell, but her voice was snappy, and Max took it as a final warning. "You said you knew where we could get a car." 

Kate started to argue, but Max shook her head, whispered "We'll talk about it later. Why don't you grab them some water, " and Kate walked off further into the basement, huffing and mumbling. She came back a second later with a few water bottles, threw one towards Chloe and then passed one to Rachel. She had a friendly smile and a soft face, nothing like the angry side she saw her display towards Chloe. 

"Sorry, I'm Kate." Rachel took the water. 

"Rachel, nice to meet you." 

Max smiled, gestured for them to follow and she walked up to a desk where a map was spread out. There were various markings on it, Rachel guessed the traps that she'd planted. Max pointed to a large building north of where the basement was marked. "This here is a high school. A large truck is crashed through the wall there, where we can pick up a battery. I've been trying my best to fix up a car in a garage a few blocks down, and I think that's all it needs." She scratched the back of her head, placed her arm over Kate's shoulders and hugged her closer for a second, smiled. "But you were always the mechanic, Chlo." 

Chloe was studying the map. "How long to get there?" 

Max contemplated the distance in her head, "About 20 minutes? Most of the area is clear, but I haven't been up to the high school in a while, it will be crawling." Chloe nodded, turned to Rachel. 

"You okay with this?" The question kind of shocked Rachel, but she tried not to show it. The same way she tried not to show that she was more than happy with Chloe's eyes on her. She just nodded. 

"I've got your back, Price." Chloe smiled, and Rachel hated to admit how much she loved when she did that. 

Max nodded, then turned round to the both of them and handed them each what Chloe recognised as a automatic rifle, as well as a case of bullets Chloe put in her bag. She nodded her thanks, Max responding with the same. Rachel thanked her. 

"Thank me when we get out of this alive." She said instead, kissed Kate quickly. "Don't worry, we will". 

"Let's get going."

It took about 20 minutes before the school was even in sight. The big yellow bus had crashed through the closed gates, but there was not much of a way through, not unless they went over it. 

"Come on," Chloe directed to Rachel, "Max and I will give you a boost up, can you see the ladder?" It took Rachel a short second before she noticed the rusted metal ladder sat on top of the roof. 

Just as they were ready to lift her, Chloe handed Rachel her knife. "Just in case you don't want to make too much noise." She didn't know what came over her, but Chloe felt herself wink, and didn't regret it when Rachel was left speechless. "See you on the other side," and then they were lifting her, up as she grabbed onto the roof and pulled herself up. 

Chloe could hear the sounds of their feet before she saw the swarm of runners. She saw Max's face reflect the same panic she could feel on hers. She pulled the gun Max gave her off her shoulder and got ready quickly, as the runners turned into the school courtyard and roared as they spotted them. 

"Stay up there Rach, take down as many of them as you can!" Chloe yelled, before her own gunfire and the screeching of the runners drowned out Rachel's response.

Chloe took five of the fuckers down before she heard Max scream and curse, seeing her being chased down and cornered by three runners when she turned to see what was wrong. Despite everything between them, Chloe didn't hesitate. She couldn't. She raced towards Max, took down a runner by slamming it's head into the concrete, spun and shot another through the skull, and watched the last one implode as Rachel's shot met it's mark. 

They made eye contact across the School grounds, and Chloe smiled softly as a thank you, before helping Max up. 

"You saved my life." Max was shocked, but Chloe just rolled her eyes. She felt the anger rise in her chest, but she settled on just a sarcastic remark. 

"You always showed me the same curesty." There wasn't much time for Max to reply, about 10 or so runners remaining. 

When the last one fell however, and they all breathed a sigh of relief, Max turned on Chloe, her voice angry. 

"You know what, you can hate me all you want. But I didn't have a god damn choice but to leave you!" Her eyes were on fire, and her Chloe stood face to face as they yelled at each other back and forth. 

"Didn't have a choice? I promised to help you find Kate, and you thought that leaving me to die would be way to repay that!" All the anger Chloe had kept inside, all the pain she remembered feeling as Max ran from her then, five years ago. It all came back at once. 

"I thought you were bitten, I couldn't risk it. I couldn't risk leaving Kate with the raiders." 

"Good on you Max, leave your fucking best friend to the dead. Gave on me that quick did you?" Before Chloe could rush Max and hit her with another punch, which Max looked ready to return this time, Rachel got between them and grabbed Chloe hard by the shoulders, pulling her back. She'd jumped down from the top of the bus when she heard the yelling. 

"I get the two of you have some history, but shut the fuck up or you'll bring the entire city down on us." This seemed to sober Chloe up, and she relaxed slowly with one last glare at Max. 

"You're right, let's get that battery and leave."


End file.
